7 key stats from Cardinals Opening Day that could shape the 2025 season

47,395 - Cardinals fans pack Busch Stadium for Opening Day

Cardinals fans are rightfully frustrated by a number of things. The team hasn’t won a playoff series since 2019 or a game in the postseason since 2020. They had one of their worst seasons in franchise history in 2023 and were mediocre in 2024. And rather than cleaning house this offseason, they implemented a transition plan and then did almost nothing with the Major League roster this winter.

This is just scratching the surface of the issues fans have. There were real questions about whether fans would show up to the ballpark this year, even on Opening Day. When Thursday rolled around, terrible weather delayed the first pitch by well over an hour, and yet, in spite of all of that and the issues that have compounded, 47,395 fans packed Busch Stadium to usher in the 2025 season.

I do not expect that kind of attendance to be maintained during the month of April, obviously. Opening Day is a special experience and is going to draw fans. Monday night against the Los Angeles Angels with Miles Mikolas on the mound won’t have the same draw. But, if I’m being honest, I didn’t expect this kind of turnout on Opening Day,

I will never tell fans how to spend their money. No one *has* to go watch this team play. But please don’t be the person who tells other fans they *shouldn’t* go to the ballpark either. If you don’t want to watch the team, that’s okay. But so many Cardinals fans bleed red and find so much enjoyment in going to Busch Stadium, and if this team gets off to a hot start, we could see fans pouring into the seats more and more as the season goes on.

Being at the ballpark on Thursday, there was a different energy in the air. The team seemed far looser and far more aggressive, and they were having more fun than they had in recent years. The crowd felt like that of a family at their relative's little league baseball game — cheering on the "kids" and hoping to see them develop before their very eyes.

St. Louis hasn't had a team like this in some time, a team that they can watch truly grow as an entire unit. A team that in some ways has nothing to lose and yet everything to gain. A club marked by opportunity and chips on their shoulders rather than a fear of disappointing those around them.

If the team is losing, I'm not sure that will be enough to draw fans to the ballpark. But if the club is competitive, let alone potentially good, I think the frustration that has filled the discourse of Cardinals fans for some time now may be put to the side in order to cheer on the future of Cardinals baseball. That's the product this organization is selling in 2025. Not the promise of the playoffs or World Series contention. Not the nostalgia of your favorite players growing up who are in the twilight of their careers. The team is selling hope, selling a glimpse of the future, and if the cards stack their way, the fruit may start showing up as soon as this year.

That's an exciting product that I think fans will come to the ballpark for. Only time will tell if they can thread that needle and fill Busch Stadium in 2025.